1. Field of the Invention
The present application is related to a touch panel, and particularly to a touch panel having electrostatic protection functions.
2. Description of Related Art
As information technology, wireless mobile communication and information appliances are rapidly developing and applied, in order to achieve more convenient, more compact and light-volume and more user-friendly designs, many information products have changed from using conventional input devices such as keyboards or mice to using touch panels.
Based on the difference in sensing types, touch panels may be generally categorized into a resistive touch panel, a capacitive touch panel, an optical touch panel, an acoustic-wave touch panel, and an electromagnetic touch panel. Since the capacitive touch panel has the advantages of short response time, good reliability and high definition compared to other types of touch panels, the capacitive touch panel is broadly applied to various hand-held electronic devices.
Generally speaking, electronic products are liable to damage of electrostatic discharge (ESD) anytime during manufacturing, packaging, testing, transportation, or even the final assembly and use and thus fail to operate normally. Similarly, touch panels have the issue of ESD. For the above reason, an electrostatic protection circuit is usually arranged in a touch panel to provide protection to the touch panel. The electrostatic protection circuit is usually located in the peripheral region of the touch panel and surrounds the outermost periphery of a connecting circuit of the peripheral region. However, arranging the electrostatic protection circuit at the outermost periphery of the peripheral region increases the border size of the touch panel, which does not fulfill the current design goal of decreasing the sizes of electronic products.